Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, January 13, 2015)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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lackadaisical
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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EllipsesAn ellipsis is a series of three consecutive periods known as ellipsis points ( . . . ) used to indicate where words have been omitted from quoted text. When are brackets placed around ellipses? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 The Doberman PinscherOften used in police work, the Doberman pinscher is a breed of dog with a great capacity for training and a reputation for loyalty and intelligence, making it an excellent companion. Its short tail is the result of docking, a procedure in which most of the tail is amputated shortly after birth. The dogs are named for Louis Dobermann, who created the breed in 19th-century Germany by crossing German sheepherding dogs with the Rottweiler and Manchester terrier. What does "pinscher" mean in German? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 First Successful Escape from an Aircraft Using the Ejection Seat (1942)Ejection seats are used in aircraft to quickly propel occupants out in an emergency. Today, they are fired by an explosive charge, but the first ejection seats were powered by compressed air. One of the first aircrafts to be fitted with such a system was the German Heinkel He 280 prototype jet fighter. While testing the He 280 during WWII, pilot Helmut Schenk became the first person to use an ejection seat to make an emergency escape from an aircraft. What went wrong during his test flight? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Sophie Tucker (1884)Tucker was a Russian-born American singer and entertainer who began performing vaudeville as a child, singing ragtime melodies in blackface. She later abandoned the makeup but continued in the African-American style, helping popularize the songs of black composers. Known for her racy songs, she enjoyed great success on tour and went on to appear in several stage and movie musicals but was best known as a nightclub torch singer. In her later years, she was billed under what moniker? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 Ignorance... is a painless evil; so, I should think, is dirt, considering the merry faces that go along with it.George Eliot (1819-1880) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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a (real) frog-choker— A particularly heavy or torrential downpour of rain. (Chiefly heard in the southern United States.) More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Stephen Foster Memorial Day (2015)Stephen Collins Foster (1826-1864) was a composer whose popular songs and ballads have found a lasting place in American music. When he died at the age of 37, he left behind more than 200 compositions—among them "Camptown Races," "Oh! Susanna," and "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair." January 13, the anniversary of Foster's death, was proclaimed Stephen Foster Memorial Day in 1951. In Florida, this day is part of Stephen Foster Memorial Week, and events include performances by musical groups from schools and universities throughout the state. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: measuringcord - An amount of wood containing 128 cubic feet (4x4x8 feet); the name comes from the old practice of measuring a stack of firewood with a cord of a certain length. To cord is to stack or put up wood in cords. More... drosometer - An instrument for measuring the amount of dew on a surface. More... isometric - From Latin isus, "equal," and -metria, "measuring." More... Mach - The scale measuring the speed of an object or fluid relative to the speed of sound is named for philosopher/physicist Ernst Mach (1838-1916), who researched thermodynamics; Mach is the ratio of the speed of something to the speed of sound in the surrounding medium. More... | |